Department of Defense Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth L. Hoffman provided the following readout:
On February 17, 2022, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Mr. Daniel Erikson, co-chaired the 5th annual U.S. – Guatemala Defense Bilateral Working Group with Guatemala's Minister of Defense Henry Reyes. The meeting took place at the headquarters of the Inter-American Defense Board in Washington, D.C.
The Defense Bilateral Working Group is an established defense diplomacy dialogue that that guides the U.S. – Guatemala defense relationship and our security cooperation. The forum is a mechanism to discuss strategic level defense issues and to explore future cooperation activities in the areas of defense and security.
DASD Erikson and Minister Reyes discussed: 1) U.S.-Guatemala defense priorities 2) Defense Sector Institution Building, 3) Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response, 4) Emergent Challenges and External State Actors, and 5) Cyber Security Cooperation. The leaders also acknowledged the importance of integrating climate change considerations into future defense dialogues, and underscored the importance of combating corruption and respecting democratic values, the rule of law, and human rights in all aspects of the defense relationship.
